This is a video showing how I use my 3 1/2 and 5 1/4 disk drives together with a fujinet

[rietveld]

 

[RGDiRocco]

How do you have both the zip drives attached? What card are you using to run both simultaneously?

[rietveld]

1 hour ago, RGDiRocco said:

How do you have both the zip drives attached? What card are you using to run both simultaneously?

I am using the MicroFox IDE from Bob S.  instead of using his dual CF card sertup I an using a standard IDE PC hard drive cable.  It has two 40 pin connectors and can be used with a MASTER and SLAVE drive combo

I just attached the Zip 100 to the first connector ( and jumpered the ZIP as  MASTER) then connected the SyQuest to the second connector and jumpered it as a SLAVE

It still uses the same HARD DRIVE menu system but instead of switching between CF card images it switches between the two hard drives ( zip and SyQuest)

 

 

 

Edited January 6, 2023 by rietveld

[NIAD]

12 hours ago, rietveld said:

I just attached the Zip 100 to the first connector ( and jumpered the ZIP as  MASTER) then connected the SyQuest to the second connector and jumpered it as a SLAVE

It still uses the same HARD DRIVE menu system but instead of switching between CF card images it switches between the two hard drives ( zip and SyQuest)

Way to think outside the box!

 

Actually, not really thinking outside the box as much as just having years of experience in using PC hardware and IDE devices re the Master and Slave jumper settings and dual IDE cable.

 

Rich… the Dual IDE CF Adapter that is supplied with the MicroFox 100Mb Dual IDE setup is basically the same  as rietveld’s two external IDE drives but just in a smaller form factor and without the need for the Dual IDE cable… the Master and Slave drive logic is built into the CF Adapter so that no jumper settings have to be set and switching between the two is controlled by the software.

 

Note that all of this will only work when using the IDE Boot Driver and HD Menu software v5.0. The early version up to, IIRC, v3.9 only support one IDE Drive.

[NIAD]

16 hours ago, rietveld said:

 

The decision between an ADE or FujiNet really only boils down to personal preference as far as the core features of 4 emulated disk drives using an SD Drive/Card as the storage medium.

 

Both SD Drives allow one to enable and disable any combination of the four emulated disk drives either thru the FujiNet Config / Web Interface or ADE Commander / ADE Drive button on it’s control panel.

 

There are numerous other factors to consider between the two options and thankfully all the info and videos are readily available to aid in the decision making. Here’s some further food for thought:

 

- Both are available as external or internal (Data Drive Bay) versions.

- Both are available to purchase complete and ready to use either in a lower cost version or a more expensive “sexy” version. A “Lite” version of the “sexy” version is no longer available re the FujiNet.

 

- Both can be built by the end user using the tech info that has so graciously been made available freely.

- Both offer a Coleco SmartKey user interface… the ADE version is called VHS-Head by Thomas Cherryhomes. Due to the graphics display/screen refreshes, this is obviously slower in maneuvering around, but it fits the ADAM so perfectly.

 

- The ADE text based user interface is much faster to move around and configure things, but if someone was so inclined, they could write a FujiNet text based CONFIG program.

 

- Both can run DDP and ROM images.

- To mount or unmount images files is controlled thru the software program on both OR the web interface on the FujiNet OR the control panel button on the ADE.

 

- The ADE provides a display panel to change options within a program that I prefer over having to have a PC on to use the FujiNet web interface. For most, this won’t be a consideration to worry about, but for someone like me who is organizing the Archive, it’s much easier to have the ADE display and button control panel.

- The ADE Pro and ADE Lite support multi-disk programs by pressing the SWAP button to automatically mount the next disk image… ie: Richard Scarry BEWE is two disk images and one has to change the mounted disk image within the game numerous times so just press the SWAP button to accomplish this. It’s A very nice convenience option that John Lundy added to the ADE Pro Shield.

 

So as far as SD Drive and emulated Coleco disk drive functionality, they are pretty much identical and the FujiNet’s other capabilities are what differentiate it from the ADE and I’ll discuss this next…

Edited January 6, 2023 by NIAD

[NIAD]

The FujiNet has additional hardware capabilities built-in and can be further expanded thru software in the future.

 

- WiFi modem

- Printer emulation to print to PDF that is accessed thru the Web Interface

- Bluetooth option if/when this functionality is added

 

A new Comm program had to be written since the WiFi modem is accessed thru ADAMnet so existing Comm programs for CP/M or EOS will not work with the FujiNet WiFi modem since they communicate with a modem thru port addresses, not ADAMnet. Not the end of the world as NCat does the job and Thom included three versions dependent on what you want the screen width to be.

 

Since the FujiNet is an ADAMnet device, any existing or future ADAMnet device can be supported. Thom even added support for the Coleco prototype ADAMnet Universal Interface (parallel and serial interface) using the info provided by Coleco in the Technical Manual, the devices 6801 dump and the existing code in CP/M. While this is not active in the FujiNet firmware yet, Thom did make two videos showing how it works and discussing the firmware code. Even if nothing more comes of it, I hope he will make it active in a future firmware update.

 

If one goes with an ADE and wants a WiFi modem on their ADAM, then an additional purchase or build of the MIB238 WiFi interface card is needed. This card will also include a Parallel Interface for connecting a printer versus FujiNet’s print to PDF, a DTE Serial Port for connecting to a terminal for 80 column output, Memroy Addressing for larger Memory Expanders  and a Boot Prom socket.

 

To wrap, there is not a wrong choice between the ADE and FujiNet. I have multiple versions of both and have two systems setup like you do.